Kashi

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Kashi (काशी) or Kasi , (Urdu:کاشی), (IAST: Kāśī), or Vārāṇasī (वाराणसी), also known as Benares, Banaras, or Benaras is a famous Hindu holy city situated on the banks of the river Ganga in the state of Uttar Pradesh. It is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world]], dating back thousands of years and contemporaneous with the Sumer civilisation. It is often also referred to as "city of temples and learning."

The culture of Varanasi is deeply associated with the river Ganges and the river's religious importance. The city has been a cultural and religious center in northern India for thousands of years. Varanasi has its own style of classical Hindustani music, and has produced prominent philosophers, poets, writers and musicians in Indian history, including Kabir, Ravi Das, Munshi Premchand, Jaishankar Prasad, Acharya Ram Chandra Shukla, Pandit Ravi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia and Ustad Bismillah Khan. Varanasi is the home of Banaras Hindu University. Tulsidas wrote his Ramcharitmanas here, and Gautam Buddha gave his first sermon at Sarnath near Kashi. The language spoken in Varanasi is Kashika Bhojpuri related to Hindi.

Holy city

Varanasi is a holy city in Hinduism, one of the most sacred pilgrimage places for Hindus of all Hindu denominations. The Hindu God Shiva supposedly once lived there making many Hindus want to go there on a pilgrimage. More than 1,000,000 pilgrims visit the city each year. Here is the holy shrine of Lord Kashi Vishwanath, (an aspect of Lord Shiva) and one of the twelve revered Jyotirlingas of the Lord Shiva. Hindus believe that bathing in the river Ganga will remit sins and that dying in the holy city of Kashi (Varanasi) circumvents rebirth. This holy city is worshipped as one of the Shakti Peethas where Divine Mother Dakshayani or Sati's earring fell and so devotees believe that on that spot stands the present Vishalakshi Temple.^[1]and Hindus of the shakti sect come to the city because the river it self is said to be shakti (goddess) its self It is here that Adi Shankara wrote his commentaries on Hinduism, leading to the great Hindu revival.

It is not just the Hindus venerate Varanasi today, for the city has links with Buddhism and Jainism as well. In the residential neighbourhood of the city lies Sarnath, the site of the deer park where Gautama Buddha is said to have given his first sermon about the basic principles of Buddhism. It is one of the four pilgrimage sites designated by Gautama Buddha, the other three being Kushinagar, Bodh Gaya, and Lumbini. The Dhamek Stupa is one of the few pre-Ashokan stupas remaining, although only the foundations remain. Also remaining is the Chaukhandi Stupa commemorating the spot where the Buddha met his first deciples, dating back to the fifth century or earlier and later enhanced by the addition of an octagonal tower.

Varanasi is also a pilgrimage place for Jains. It is believed to be the birthplace of Parshvanatha, the twenty-third Tirthankar. Vaishnavism and Shaivism have co-existed in Varanasi harmoniously. The city has also been influenced by Islamic culture.

This explains the continuous tension between communities in the city and the fact that really ancient monuments are few. However, Varanasi has kept its sacred position as the Holy City of Hinduism.

Jats in Kashi

Kasya

Kasya (कास्या) or Kashya (काश्य) is gotra of Jats. They were Suryavansh people, who ruled in Kashi. When they lost their kingdom of Kashi to the Magadha, moved from there to else where. Since they had com from Kashi hence known as Kashya or Kashiwat. ^[2] At present Kasya gotra Jats live in Mandsaur district in Madhya Pradesh. they are in villages Malhargarh in Mandsaur district.

Burdak

The Burdak gotra of Jats are probably related with Virudhaka. Virudhaka (विरूढक) (IAST: Virūḍhaka, Pali: Viḍūḍabha) was son of Raja Prasenjit and king of Kashi. Soon after usurping the prosperous kingdom built up by his father Bimbisara, the parricide Ajatashatru went to war with his aged uncle Prasenjit, and gained complete control of Kashi. Just after this Prasenjit, like Bimbisara, was deposed by his son Virudhaka, and died. The new king, Virūḍhaka (in Pali Viḍūḍabha), then attacked and virtually annihilated the little autonomous tribe of Shakyas, in Himalyan foothills, and we hear no more of the people which produced the greatest of Indians, the Buddha. ^[3]

Probably Virudhaka, like Ajatashatru of Magadha, had ambitions of empire, and wished to embark on a career of conquest after bringing the outlying peoples, who had paid loose homage to his father, more directly under the control of the centre; but his intentions were unfulfilled, for we hear no more of him except an unreliable legend that he was destroyed by a miracle soon after his massacre of Shakyas. A little later his kingdom was incorporated in Magadha. ^[4]

Reference

1. ↑
2. ↑ Dr Mahendra Singh Arya, Dharmpal Singh Dudee, Kishan Singh Faujdar & Vijendra Singh Narwar: Ādhunik Jat Itihasa (The modern history of Jats), Agra 1998
3. ↑ A.L. Batham, The Wonders that was India, 1967, p. 47
4. ↑ A.L. Batham, The Wonders that was India, 1967, p. 47

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